Behind the Scenes at CES With Wired’s Instagram

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The Wired CES team spent the majority of its time in Las Vegas last week held up in a makeshift work bunker outside the second-floor bathrooms of the convention center. The only time they saw daylight or breathed unprocessed air was on their daily walk from their hotel on the strip to the main hall and back.

For visitors and remote observers, CES can be a joyous orgy of gadgets and giant TVs, but for the reporters on the ground it is a grind. Readers following on the blogs don't always get the real flavor of the scene.

While everyone else was headed toward the convention center for another day of bad coffee, stale air and long walks down some of the ugliest carpet in the world, Elvis was headed toward the strip and whatever adventure Elvis can find at 10 a.m.

We thought it might be the king as he walked toward us, but it wasn't until he went by and we were able to discern his name on the body of his guitar that we knew for sure. Viva Las Vegas, baby.

The Detroit Auto Show may have been going on at the same time but CES had no shortage of automobile bling, including Audi's Urban Concept car.

Wired's Erik Malinowski hacks away at his keyboard in Wired's CES workroom under the glow of the one comfort we brought from home: holiday lights. Only one strand this year.

The workroom is not so much a room as it is pieces of stamped steel held together by duct tape and twine and built right next to the bathroom on the second level of the Central Hall. Good times.

This was when the doors opened on Tuesday. The LG booth was the first thing you saw when you entered the main doors at Central Hall and they had set up a giant 3-D television demo. Handing out glasses at the door. This caused a massive traffic jam of people stopping to look up. It was a huge clusterfuck and clearly a crowd-flow oversight.

Taken from the show floor of CES, shortly before Mike Isaac sat down to interview the CEO of Nokia.

It did not taste as good as it looked.

The Toshiba booth had a table demoing its new Ultrabooks, and at the end was a glass cube holding logic boards and the guts of the machines. They posted a "No Photos" sign. Right.

Harmon Kardon's GLA-55s were music for your eyes in their booth this year. We couldn't decide if they were something from a Superman movie but from what we could tell in the craziness of the show floor they looked as good as they sounded.

The lines outside the meeting rooms at CES were one of the few places for a brief respite. This gentleman was attempting to get reception from AT&T (not happening) while waiting for a meeting at Microsoft.

This dude was hanging out after the Steve Balmer keynote mashing out e-mails on his tablet. Probably didnt even realize the thing was over.

While most people were awaiting shuttles, cabs or just preferring to hoof it, there was the occasional other option. This yellow beauty was parked outside the lovely Wynn Hotel.

From the photo booth at the Wired party, inside the Surrender Nightclub at the Encore hotel. Gadget Lab copy jockey Mike Isaac is flanked by Ars Technica writers Chris Foresman and Casey Johnston and two unidentified partyers.

Relevant: They may have had a few at this point.

Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center. These guys -- full-grown businessmen inspecting cat-themed erasers and plush dolls like they were archeological remains -- had no sense of humor about them. At least be self-aware enough to appreciate the irony, fellas.

Sadly, they passed right by the Mario dolls without as much as a second glance.

Visitors entering the Wired Cafe at the Encore Hotel on Wednesday night were greeted by cocktails and bright silver, sparkly and slithering pole dancing.

The early morning light was the only time we had to see the sun and the only part of the town we got to experience other than the bowels of the Las Vegas Convention Center.